I just brought home and hooked up to my system, the Plinius SA-100 Mk II amp and was overwhelmed at how fabulous it sounded. After owning Krell, McCormack, Crown and conrad johnson amps and a CAT and Audible Illusion preamps, I thought I was getting a little jaded. I was hardly ever impressed amymore when I heard new systems or components at the local audio dealers. Then I heard about this amp and bought a used one that was a couple months old. Having really loved the musicality of my conrad johnson (tube amp), I thought I'd be disappointed with the midrange of solid state although I probably gain in the bass. I was half wrong. Sure, I greatly improved the bass. It was now deep, clean, powerful and tight. But I still had a tremendous, musical and non-fatiguing midrange and treble. This amp is the best of both worlds to the extent that is possible. It has plenty over power, great bass, great dynamics and imaging and a VERY musical sound. It's built like a tank, runs in pure class A or A/B at the flick of a switch an has balanced inputs. Music just sounds great through this amp.. My hat's off to Plinius and this GREAT sounding amp!!

I am a audiophile for several years and I have not been satisfy with my system all along. Amp I have been fooling around such as the Krell KSA200, Jadis defy7, Jeff Roland model 2, Mark Levinson 27.5 and sad to say, none satisfy my listening pleasure. So one day, I decided to built my own amp started with a mono block solid state class A bias amp, a monoblock triode tube amp, and then a FET power amp.. Guess what, I still ended up with a Plinius SA100MKIII. This amp is indeed a great amp which do what both tube and solid state are great of. The mid range is near perfect that it propably only lost to a Cary300SEI and the deep bass to a giant Krell. The Plinius SA100MKIII only made all those DIY goer like a fool as all the parts and chassis already worth the cost.
I highly recommend all the guy out there to give this amp a try if you are eyeing for the tube midrange and a solid state control. This amp sound best when you think that your other equipment are the best, otherwise forget about it.

I also highly recommend to those guy there using the sonus Faber Guarneri to give this amp a try and you will be shock that the Guarneri is not restricted by the small tiny 51/2" woofer anymore.

My system consist of:
Linn LP12/Lingo/IttokII/Winson Benesh Matrix/Discovery phone cable
Home made Tube Pre-Amp
Home made Battery operated Phono Amp
Home made speaker
AQ Diamond interconnect
AQ Dragon Speaker cable
NBS Signature II power cable
Cardas Golden cross interconnect (still evaluating)

I previously posted a review of this amp on January 2, 1999. Since that time I have purchased a second Plinius SA-100mkII and am running them in bridged mono mode 360 watts/channel into 8 ohms, over 700 into 4 ohms). I hate to sound too gushy about this amp but I cannot believe how great this amp is. In bridged mono, everything is just a bit better. Even the bass, which was outrageous before improved. Of all of the upgrades, equipment changes, tweaks, cables, power cords etc, that I have made or experienced, NOTHING comes close to the improvement that this amp has made to my system and my listening experience. I have absolutely nothing against Levinson, Krell or Spectral, but before you shell out the cash for any of those amps, you owe it to yourself to at least give this amp an audition. To this man's ears, you can spend three to four times as much and not equal the sound of this amp!

Having been simultaneously delighted & tormented by a 9W Single-ended triode tube amp for a year, I felt motivated to seek out a solid-state amp that would provide more precision and impact, and yet not sound harsh to my SET-pampered ears. Other amps auditioned included Pass, YBA, Krell, Ayre, BAT, McIntosh etc.
Upon first encountering the Plinius, I wanted to tear open the chassis to see if some gigantic mutant 300B tubes were glowing within a revolutionary OTL circuit, pumping out unheard of amounts of current . The sound was powerful, TIGHT and very detailed like a good solid state amp, yet very "alive", "continuous", delicate, SMOOTH & musically coherent like single ended triodes.

Although the Plinius cannot quite equal the eerie feeling of "peering into a performance" offered by a good SET amp (given a listening level under 85dB), it does have a very good measure of this quality. I am relieved that it does not make me yearn for my old tube amp. It has helped me maintain an exceedingly safisfying level of "fluidity" while replacing my old tube amp's infuriating lethargy & mushiness with tightness, impact and dynamics.

Although my Plinius SA100MkIII sounded cold, brittle and boomy when it first arrived, two weeks of continuous burn-in with a CD on repeat has wrought delightful changes.

As I did not wish to sully its marvellous qualities, I am using a DIY passive "preamp" built around a CT1 100Kohm stepped attenuator, WBT sockets and Nirvana hookup cable within a damped aluminiun chassis. With a single direct input, no switches are used. I find the Plinius is a good candidate for use with a passive preamp due to its high input impedance and sensitivity.

Heartily recommended for SET addicts seeking to rehabilitate without suffering any cold turkey.

One superb Class A 100-watt amp, no-brainer choice for those who like tube midrange and solid-state bass. True quality "hybrid" sound, and chosen after auditioning over some of the best near its price range - Krell KSA-150/250, Pass Labs Aleph 3, Audio Research Tube amps, McCormack, Musical Fidelity FX18, etc. Stereophile Class A, but their review noted hum problems. There was no evidence of this in my system, nor in other systems I've listened to which had the Plinius. Nice feature of easily switching from the already excellent Class A/B mode to Class A. Built like a tank, 4 pairs of solid binding posts. Lovely midrange, articulate bass, sweet, yet detailed, and deep well-defined soundstage, although not extending as deep as the McCormack DNA1's. And this is just the MKII version, now looking into possibilities of moving it up to MKIII.
Again, like the Sonus Faber Concerto and other European products, cheaper in Singapore by almost 70% than in the States ..

JR
http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/Quarter/9856/jrtlr.html

I like to listen to music not equipment. The Plinius allows me to do that. It has a magnificently transparent top-end, controlled middle and a full and articulate bass. However, it is the ability of this amplifier to create a three dimensional soundstage (in combination with good loudspeakers) that allows me to attend concerts in my home that its greatest asset.

I just bought a used SA100MKII for US$1100. This is one hell of a amplifier. It is one of the best period in its class. Now can someone tell me what are the differences between the MKII and MKIII. Peter Thompson told me the difference is only in the separation of one of the small transformer into two separate individual pieces, that's all.

I don't think this amp is worth the money. I prefer the Krell sound. It is more natural. Don't fall for the Plinius hype.

Please ignore Mr B's reviews on nearly all of Plinius's products. He obviously owns an amplifier that came as part of his mini system and is jealous. Or even more likely, he is Schizophrenic, as on the Plinius pages he prefers Krell amps, but on Krell pages he prefers Plinius amps.
To Mr B: Don't worry - one day when you actually spend a day away from your computer and visit the men in white coats, you may be able to find a job and possibly afford a high end amp like Krell or Plinius. Until then, you will have to 'prefer the Aiwa sound'.

Plinius amplifiers are great products, and provide quite a different sound to Krell and the like. They have recieved such wonderful reviews, and nearly always impress people with their amazing sound. They are built in New Zealand, and are just beginning to recieve the acclaim that they deserve. They are legendary amplifiers.

Plinius provides in my opinion a much better sound than Krell - it's free of the slight brightness and provides a tube like sound. Of course it's a matter of taste, but trust me, you owe it to yourself to listen to Plinius.

5 stars to a products which truely deserves it.

1. Crystal clear music reproduction.
2. Tremendous transient response.
3. Drives extremely difficult loads with ease.
4. The amplifier seems to have considerably more power than 100 watts/channel

1. Ventilation requirements limit placement options.
2. Considerable heat generation in class A mode.

This is a transparent amplifier. To say that it sounds "tube like" is a slam on a product that doesn't sound at all. It's pure music.
Try Crystal Clear Records Sonic Fireworks d2d of Copland's "Fanfare for the Common Man" or Sheffield Lab's d2d of Wagner's "Siegfried's Funeral March". Awesome.
I'm driving full range electrostatics w/a passively crossed over subwoofer (80hz). The room volume is aproximately 3,000 cu. ft. I have yet to run out of amplifier.
The best part is that there are smokin' deals on used units. Ciao!

Similar Products Used:

Threshold 400A, Krell KSA-200